Name:
Iona NoelAge: Seventeen
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Personality: Iona tries to keep to herself, when able; but nevertheless invites trouble with a smoldering gaze or fiery comment . To phrase it lightly, she has a chip on her shoulder. To say it plainly is to say that she has a grudge against the world. This complex, formed through years of sustained loss and misfortune, has left Iona with a particularly skewed view of the small world that surrounds her.
She is quick to speak, and act, when she perceives something is wrong and has very few reservations about what other people would consider appropriate. Over the last two years, she has been driven by a desire to become independent; taking up boxing and relentlessly pushing herself to become what she sees as stronger. In truth Iona is driven by a fear of loss and oppression. This leaves her far more accommodating to her few friends, but much harsher to those unknown to her.
Despite her drive, she rarely does well with academics; making her a well-below-average student. Her intellect is something of a sore point and happens to be one of her many easy-to-press buttons.
Occupation: Student. Amateur Pugilist.
Core Ability:
Incongruous Movement (First Stage) - While hard pressed to explain it, herself, Iona can easily shift between two locations in a given Space. This allows her to instantaneously remove her existence and reform it within her visual range. She usually utilizes this to throw a surprise punch or evade pursuers. Not every jump is precise and there is a small (25%) chance that Iona will fail to appear where she wishes.
In terms of Esoteric functionality, she is using a 'Resonance Draft'. More on this in
Incongruous Movement (Second Stage).
Biography: Born 'Tomi Saku', premature and tiny, the girl known as 'Iona Noel' has changed much since her first squalling moments. East City is an unforgiving place, as many who dwell there come to know, but it has been particularly hard on Iona. Her earliest days were peaceful, without strife or care, aside from the occasional dispute between her father and mother. That ended at the age of seven, both of her parents (Shin and Yuzuki) slain by an arsonist's whimsy. Having survived alone, sustaining burns along her abdomen and the upper part of her legs, she and her brother (Tatsuo) were forced to live together. Tatsuo had distanced himself from his parents, once he had turned eighteen (when Tomi was three), but that had never kept him from visiting his little sister.
Glad to accept the responsibility of caring for and raising her, Tatsuo doted on his little sister; despite his illicit inclinations and way of living. A part-time drug dealer and part-time competitive fighter, Tatsuo shielded Tomi from the world he inhabited as best he could. Despite that, she caught on quickly, learning through his group of friends what her brother did and just exactly where her comfortable situation came from. While some would balk at the idea, Tomi simply could not see her brother as a bad person. She admired him for putting himself in such dangerous scenarios, simply for her well-being; something that, at the time, she didn't quite
fully comprehend the depth of.
The Saku Two continued their lives together, growing closer as she aged and became more aware of the world that surrounded Tatsuo...that had begun to envelop her. At the age of twelve, he too, was taken from her. One of his fights against a particularly vicious competitor ended in his death. With that, the Saku Two were no more. Without her family, Tomi began falling to pieces; seeking comfort in those who most reminded her of her lost brother. Her naivety earning her two long and painful years at the hand of Lars Ruugal, a long-time friend of Tatsuo's.
Lars was seven years her elder, who had at first appeared to be a deeply caring man. She had always found him to be interesting, but had never felt attraction until after her brother's death. The two became a couple, despite the implications, and Tomi soon learned that those who stood in her brother's shadow could be vile creatures. When angry, Ruugal would lash out at her with his full strength; brutally beating Tomi around the apartment being paid for by Tatsuo's death. She became his live-in slave, when she was not at school; attending to his desires as they appeared, afraid to oppose him...afraid to be apart from him. She would deflect questions angrily, the first vestiges of her transmogrifying personality appearing, and defended Lars at every turn. She began losing her friends, withdrawing from them more and more; she began losing herself, living in fear of what pain the next day would bring.
It took her two years to finally gather the courage to leave, after an attempt on Lars' life and an extended hospital stay. Left with only the insurance money from her brother's passing, Tomi spent long hours contemplating what she would do once she was free. The first thing was to change her name. To leave behind the girl she had been. The second was to find someone willing to rent an apartment to a girl nearing her fifteenth year. Both worked out, over the course of a few months. It was during that odd, hazily recalled time that she made the decision to become a fighter; to follow in her brother's footsteps...without falling into his life style. Without anything to lose, she threw herself into the idea.
Now known as 'Iona Noel', Tomi Saku began a new life. A single-room apartment, registered under her new name and a burning disgust within her. An embittering fear that drove her to become stronger. Iona has lived that life for two years, keeping much of her past a secret, attending school at East City Central High and devoting herself fully to the pure pursuit of pugilism.
